Too much sparge / not enough boil

[pretzelb]

I bottled my Irish Red ale the other day and it seemed a bit weak. One thing that concerned me was after 54 bottles I had a good amount left. Normally I'm lucky to get a few bottles over 48 so I started to think maybe I didn't boil enough or sparged too much. Is it possible to sparge too much or not boil hot enough and have the end result be a watered down version? Or maybe should I be looking at something else?

 

[carnevoodoo]

Sure. If you end up with a greater volume than you expected, you either used too much water or your boiling evaporation calculations are off. I'd expect the former. Just make sure your preboil volumes are correct and you should be fine.

 

[Bensiff]

You are trying to determine if your are over sparged or under boiled based off how many bottles you got. If you over sparged you might have a tannin issue as an indicator. Boil off rates are generalizations, sometimes it boils off faster than others depending on things like how many BTU's you are pushing through the burner or humidity. I would consider investing in a refractometer so you can easily boil to intended gravity instead of volume. Experience will ultimately be the guide to fine tune your math so you don't have unpredicatable efficiency or water volume issues.

A thin beer can be the result of a lot of issues that is hard to know based on how many bottles you got out of a batch. What was your estimated OG and FG compared to your actual gravities. Maybe you mashed low and got a highly fermentable wort, maybe your grain bill needs adjusting, maybe your water profile has something going on.

 

[david_42]

Is it possible to sparge too much or not boil hot enough and have the end result be a watered down version?

Yes
Yes
and both in the same batch.

 

[pretzelb]

I would consider investing in a refractometer so you can easily boil to intended gravity instead of volume. Experience will ultimately be the guide to fine tune your math so you don't have unpredicatable efficiency or water volume issues.

I do have one. Are you saying you can take a reading during the boil to determine when you hit the correct SG? I did not know that.

I am struggling with my water amounts. The only one that I'm comfortable with is mash water amount. As soon as it comes to sparge and beyond I'm getting too much information from too many sources.

 

[sirmalachi]

pretzelb, I have had a similar issue with my first few all grain attempts. The last two have had good SG readings before boil, but I didn't boil long enough. The 60-90 min isn't enough for my stovetop so I'm a little low on my evaporation and end up with a thin wort. I need to split the boil or boil longer to get more evaporation. But I struggle to know when to stop the boil. After reading tonight, I'm looking into a refractometer...

Or I need to buy some propane and get my butt out into the cool weather and use my turkey fryer burner...that's got to boil me a bit faster.

 

[pretzelb]

pretzelb, I have had a similar issue with my first few all grain attempts. The last two have had good SG readings before boil, but I didn't boil long enough. The 60-90 min isn't enough for my stovetop so I'm a little low on my evaporation and end up with a thin wort. I need to split the boil or boil longer to get more evaporation. But I struggle to know when to stop the boil. After reading tonight, I'm looking into a refractometer...

Or I need to buy some propane and get my butt out into the cool weather and use my turkey fryer burner...that's got to boil me a bit faster.

I'd hold off on the refractometer. The more I read about mine the more I'm wondering why I got one. Seems like they're really only good for pre fermentation readings and if you read about calibration they all say to compare to a calibrated hydrometer. I was hoping to replace a hydrometer but it seems like a refractometer is just an add-on to a hydrometer.

 

[sweatje]

I'd hold off on the refractometer. The more I read about mine the more I'm wondering why I got one. Seems like they're really only good for pre fermentation readings and if you read about calibration they all say to compare to a calibrated hydrometer.

You might want to look at the second calculation http://onebeer.net/refractometer.shtml which if you know the OG, will let you adjust for the angle of refraction changes based on the alcohol and give you and FG using the refractometer.

HTH

 

[Bensiff]

I use my refractometer multiple times during the boil, take a few drops toss it on the lens and see where things are at. If you want a highly accurate final gravity a hydrometer is great. However, with a refractometer adjustment calculation mine is always withing one or two thousandth from my hydrometer which is not enough a deviation for me to care about.

Dealing with water amounts needed for sparge has many variables. Try to be consistent with your process. Keep your water to grain weight ratio the same and sparge at the same flow rate from batch to batch. Use your refractometer towards the end of the sparge so you can get rapid readings to determine when you have hit the 1.010 realm and know it is time to stop sparging. By paying attention to these things I know that I need a little less than twice as much sparge water as I did for dough in. Knowing this means I know pretty close when to stop sparging and waste very little water and energy to heat it.

That all said, my point is learn your system. The only way to do that is to take constant readings. If you do this and you know you have your OG and FG right and you still have problems at least you have one variable you do not have to concern yourself with and can move on to others.

 

[sirmalachi]

good points --

 

[gtpro]

I did the exact same thing on my first AG brew, used the full sparge volume without taking into account the weak electric boil I have going on, took like 3 points off my OG but I'm not sweating it.